All posts tagged John Ensign

So far this summer, the paparazzi have made a tidy living off the Gosselin family, racking up money each time Jon hops on his ATV or Kate takes a whack at the kids. But now the race is on for the first picture of South Carolina governor (for now) Mark Sanford’s Argentinian mistress Maria Belen Chapur. The first photo will mean newsstand gold (or a traffic bonanza) for whatever outlet tracks it down — and, possibly, ponies up.

Exclusive pictures of Jennifer Lopez’s twins doubled the web traffic for People magazine the day they went up. After shelling out $4.1 million for the first photo of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the first child to actually emerge from the womb of earth-mother Angelina Jolie, People saw its newsstand sales spike to 2.3 million (from an average of 1.5 million).

Political mistresses (and love-children) have historically been a tougher “get,” since celebrities have developed more sophisticated ways of handling the tabloid press — largely by cooperating with them. Jolie, Lopez and other have been able to maintain tight control over their images by selling pre-packaged photos directly to a single publication or distributing pictures widely to avoid a high-impact “Exclusive!” Politicians mid-scandal are not so lucky. Read More »

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Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.